


An Evening Mission: Morale Boost

by AkisMusicBox



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Study Group, based on a fan art, it's so cute you need to look at it, talking to senpai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 13:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkisMusicBox/pseuds/AkisMusicBox
Summary: After a rather taxing day, Akihiko just wants to go back to his room in peace. Minako won't let that happen until she sees him smile.





	An Evening Mission: Morale Boost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TataBanchou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TataBanchou/gifts).



> I haven't stopped thinking about this since TataBanchou posted it: https://www.deviantart.com/tatabanchou/art/Talking-to-Senpai-797652609
> 
> So, have a one-shot based on Talking to Senpai!

Akihiko was worn out by the time he reached the dorms. He was _tired_ , not just physically, but mentally. He found it difficult to focus on lectures, which made the school day drone on. Coach had drilled them fairly intensely in practice. His only saving grace was that Minako had already ruled out going to Tartarus that evening, as the juniors had a test the next day. They had been going almost every night for the past week, mostly at his insistence, so he knew a major aspect of his fatigue he could only blame on himself. His injuries had long since healed, but he still hadn't felt like he had made up for the lost time.

It was both inspiring and frustrating how quickly Minako had gotten so strong so quickly. It was fitting, as she was their leader, but he was still her senior, so he felt it was his duty to be able to defend the team, no matter what happened. He wanted to make sure that she knew she could rely on him. He would prove that just because he asked her to continue leading wouldn't mean that he wouldn't slack off.

_Recovery is important too. A night of rest and I'll be fine._ When he entered the dorm, he found Fuuka, Yukari, Junpei, and Minako at the dining table, hunched over textbooks and bickering over the interpretation of a short story.

"Hi, Senpai!" Minako hollered, turning in her seat and waving at him.

"Good evening, Sanada-senpai," Fuuka joined.

Junpei spared him a quick wave while Yukari continued to explain to him the significance of the story taking place in autumn. "It's about death, Junpei! About how things are slowly coming to an end!"

"Or, maybe it's just they wanted the girl to be wearing a sweater!" Junpei retorted.

As Akihiko entered the kitchen and pulled out a protein bar, Yukari looked at him and asked, "Are you feeling okay, Senpai? You look a little tired."

"Am a little tired," he conceded after a bite. "Practice just went long. We're still not going to Tartarus tonight, right, Leader?" He wolfed down another mouthful.

"Nope, we're not. Take it easy, Senpai," Minako said. "Actually, we could probably all use a break. Wanna have dinner with us? I'm flush with instant noodles, we can all eat like kings!" she said, flashing a grin.

He nearly squinted at the brightness of her smile. Something in him was exhausted. For a reason that he couldn't understand, his heart couldn't take eating dinner with her, with all of them.

"I'm...actually not that hungry this evening," he said, pulling the last bit of the bar out and throwing the wrapper in the trash. "I think I'm just going to head to bed." He made his way to the stairs before remembering to turn around and say, "Thanks, though. Good luck with the test."

As he ascended the stairs, his limbs felt as heavy as his mind. _Maybe I should have stayed, just for a little bit? They're fairly distracting, that's for sure._ But remembering Minako's smile and being unable to return even a fraction of it made him feel guilty. _I don't want to bring down the mood. I just need to sleep._

He heard quick footsteps behind him, to which he attributed to Junpei likely forgetting a study guide or something in his room. He didn't hear her call out to him, didn't hear her footsteps getting faster, and didn't realize it wasn't Junpei _at all_ until he was already opening his door, and Minako was sliding a hand in front of him to catch it.

"Senpai!" she gasped. "I'm glad I caught you!"

He jumped, and his heart started pounding in his throat. She was so very close to him, and his mind turned to static. "Arisato! I'm sorry, I...did you change your mind? Do you want to go to Tartarus?"

"No!" She shook her head vehemently and leaned against his door frame. "Not that. I just had to ask you a question, and it really can't wait."

He took a small step back, trying to clear the fuzz in his mind. His door was cracked open, his room was a mess, and she was centimeters away from entering it. His palms started to sweat. "Oh, uh...no problem. What's the question?"

Her bright, red eyes went wide for a moment, but she asked, "W-what's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"Mint," he said without thinking. _Was it actually?_ He couldn't remember, all he could think about was the fact that she was still close to him, and he desperately wished he had a mint in his mouth right now. It would have been something, anything to give himself confidence that this wasn't incredibly awkward for her. "That...that's really important?" His heart had leapt in his throat, so he swallowed to try and push it back down.

"It is!" She smiled and propped her foot on the door frame. "You see, our class is talking about what to do for the culture festival, and top suggestion right now is an ice cream stand. But, that can be really messy, so we wanted to limit it to like five flavors, so we're doing some informal polling, and we want to make sure at least two of the flavors are hits with the seniors."

He furrowed his brow. "Why is that important?"

She crossed her arms. "It's for the sake of school unity! There's been a lot of little, petty things that keep eating at the morale at school, so we hope taking everyone's feelings into consideration makes it a hit."

"I mean, The Lost do tend to put a damper on everyone's spirits, but that gets better every full moon." He felt like he was missing something.

"That's not what I'm talking about," she said waving a hand. "It's...it's stuff like Odagiri investigating someone who smoked in the school bathroom! Him playing super sleuth and questioning all the guys all dramatically about it, sometimes even while _in_ the bathroom." Her eyes went wide. "Fortunately, I'm spared from handling _that_ part of the investigation. But not like, the parts where he takes a notepad and flips it open." She mimed the action. "And licks his pencil." She put an imaginary pencil to her lips. "And starts gesturing with it wildly like he's connecting clues literally out of thin air!" She flailed her imaginary pencil wildly.

He leaned against the opposite side of the door frame with a small chuckle. "Sounds like a real Sherlock. Don't you like detective movies?"

"I mean, who doesn't? But I don't think he'll take me seriously as a proper Watson until I grow a mustache." She put a horizontal finger over her top lip. "So it's going to be a looooonng investigation. Unless you can give me a few pointers?"

"On growing a mustache, or conducting an investigation?"

"Either, or both?" she shrugged. "Whichever with get Odagiri to calm down."

"The mustache would at least get him worked up over something else," he quipped as he slid a hand in his pocket. Over being initially startled, his body felt even wearier than before, but he was reluctant to end their conversation just yet.

"True, but I'm trying to avoid anyone else getting worked up. I've already got one person who is desperately in love with Mitsuru, and wants me to help contrive a way to meet her."

"And you don't want to introduce him to her?"

"She. And I think she'd actually have a heart attack if I introduced her to Mitsuru."

" _Oh_ ," Akihiko nodded. "I don't think Mitsuru's CPR certified, so that could be a problem."

"Right?!" she laughed. "Though I will say, I overhead the funniest thing at the library the other day...."

He didn't know how long she went on like that, and he didn't know if he could actually recall everything she said, but he forgot all about his door being open because she never looked that way once. She went on to recall the antics of the old couple at the bookstore and the rumors about the paranormal seeping their ways through the school. He couldn't help but be content to let her weave her stories together in a path only she could fully see. The path ended up curving back to the culture festival, which reminded him to ask, "So...how exactly is ice cream going to fix the issues at the school?" he chuckled.

"Oh! I...well..." She put a finger to her lip. "I guess I never actually asked our class rep. How about this, when I report my findings to her tomorrow, I'll be sure to ask and let you know." She winked. "I should let you rest. 'Night, Senpai!" She pushed herself off the door frame and gave him a short wave.

He returned the wave. "Good night. Good luck studying."

He held on to the doorknob, watching her walk down the hallway until he called out, "Minako!"

She turned.

"Thanks," Akihiko said. "Just...thanks."

She flashed a mischievous smile. "What are you talking about? I was the one asking for your help."


End file.
